


Metaphysics

by MiniNephthys



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, M/M, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-15
Updated: 2015-11-15
Packaged: 2018-05-01 18:55:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5216948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiniNephthys/pseuds/MiniNephthys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The way monsters sense other monsters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Metaphysics

Skeletons, as it happens, have no internal organs. Most monsters don’t: cut them open and they get dust all over your hands, but they don’t bleed and they don’t leave the gore of livers and intestines. But skeletons, especially, have nothing inside them. Anyone can plainly see it.

Thus, they have no heartbeat, and no breath.

A heartbeat is a human concept. The notion of a sound that continues endlessly, or until the end of the human, is a strange one to monsters, fascinating in its foreignness. They have no equivalent.

Breath is different. Monsters can suck in breath, or breathe out, but it’s all for effect, the same as a nod or a roll of the eyes. They have no innate need for air. Monsters are usually very good swimmers, or at least unlikely to drown.

With no breath and no heartbeat, one might say it is impossible to pick up on the presence of a monster without seeing them if they are standing still and not speaking, but one would be wrong. In fact, a monster with their eyes closed can tell you the names of any other monster in the room with them, no matter how immobile they are or how silent.

Magic leaves a trace. A signature, perhaps, something unique to each monster alone. It’s difficult to explain to humans, who have less of an ability to even sense magic unless it’s completely unsubtle, but magic makes up more than just bullets or healing spells. Magic makes up everything that is alive - the monsters, the animals, the plants - and everything they do carries part of their being with them.

So, for example, Sans could tell you from a mile away where Papyrus is, and wager a good guess at what he’s doing, not even by just using his brotherly knowledge of what Papyrus is usually doing. He could close his eyes and feel the way his brother’s magic is moving, the sense of excitement in his soul, and tell you that he’s making spaghetti and it’s turning out relatively well, and not even have to go check if he’s right.

He used to be better at this ‘trick’, if you can call something every monster can do a trick. Now there’s some other magic that pervades the air, and it dulls his senses to everyone else, just a little.

No one else seems to have this problem. After all, it’s easier to sense the magic of someone you know well, and no one knew Gaster like Sans... or, more accurately, no else one knows Gaster like Sans, or at all.

But it’s not a huge problem. There’s only just a little bit of Gaster’s magic, everywhere Sans goes, constantly reminding him of his not quite presence. Not a problem. Definitely nothing that would upset a guy.

(Papyrus can do this trick too. He’ll close his eyes and tell you, with complete confidence, that Sans is crying.

If you tell him that you can plainly see that Sans is smiling and making a bad joke, he’ll shake his head and tell you that his soul is crying on the inside.

And really, can you prove him wrong?)


End file.
